Posted by stinenavy on 7/29/2014 3:11:00 PM (view original):
My point is that a long career that is mostly average with a few peak years does not a HOFer make.
Where is this written?
Yeah, I don't think that's a rule.
Beltre has put up 46 WAR over his seven best years. Compare that to:
39 for Paul Molitor
46 for Brooks Robinson
58 for Mike Schmidt
46 for Chipper Jones
46 for Ryne Sandberg
49 for Rod Carew
51 for Joe Dimaggio
50 for Duke Snider
46 for Reggie Jackson
41 for Tony Gwynn
37 for Dave Winfield
44 for Pete Rose
39 for Eddie Murray
I could go on. Maybe you don't think a couple of those guys belong in the Hall but Beltre's peak was obviously Hall worthy.
Compiler implies that a guy was never dominant, that his peak was small, and that just hanging around got him to benchmarks. None of that applies to Beltre.
His peak was(is) high. He is the best third baseman in baseball, right this minute, at age 35. There's no reason to believe he won't be good next season and probably very productive the season after that.